- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
They came. They saw. They held out their hands.
Hands? Yes, to hold Madagascar hissing cockroaches and stick insects (walking sticks).
The Bohart Museum of Entomology greeted some 1400 visitors during the 13th annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day, an event held Feb. 10 and showcasing 10 museums or collections across campus.
The Bohart Museum houses a global collection of eight million insect specimens, plus a live petting zoo ("the hissers" and "the sticks") and an insect-themed gift shop stocked with T-shirts, hooded sweatshirts, books, posters, stuffed animals, jewelry and insect-collecting equipment.
The entrance to the Bohart features a 5x6-foot photograph of a cuckoo or emerald wasp, commonly known as "the ruby-tailed wasp." It's the work of noted British photographer Levon Bliss. The microscupture encompasses more than 8,000 separate images.
Inside, Jeff Smith, who curates the Lepidoptera collection, and Bohart associate Greg Kareofelas, answered questions about the butterfly and moth specimens.
New director of the Bohart Museum is professor and arachnologist Jason Bond, the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and associate dean, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Bond succeeds UC Davis distinguished professor emerita Lynn Kimsey, who served as director from 1999 until Jan. 31, retiring on Feb. 1. Kimsey continues her research and in serving as executive director of the Bohart Museum Society.
The next open house at the Bohart Museum will be from 1 to 4 p.m., Sunday, March 3. The theme: "Grasshoppers,Crickets and Katydids." A talk is planned from 1 to 2 p.m., with the museum open from 2 to 4 p.m.
The Bohart Museum also is planning its annual open house for the annual UC Davis Picnic Day on Saturday, April 20.
Founded in 1946 by UC Davis professor Richard Bohart, the insect museum is located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane. More information is on its website or by contacting bmuseum@ucdavis.edu.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Some 2000 visitors fan into the Academic Surge Building, home of the Bohart Museum and the Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology.
The Bohart Museum is the home of a global collection of eight million insect specimens. It's seventh insect collection in North America.
On BioDivDay, 15 Bohart activity stations lined the hallway. Bug enthusiasts learned about spiders, ants, flies, bees, butterflies, moths and more. They held tenants from the live petting zoo--Madagascar hissing cockroaches and stick insects (walking sticks)--and took cell phone images.
A neon poster next to the spider display read:
"Ask us questions.
SPIDERS.
And 8-legged friends.
Arachnology.
Bond lab."
"Museum Guidelines. Be curious! Avoid saying:
Ewww!
Ick!
Gross!
Yuck!"
Nobody said "ick, gross, yuck or ewww" (at least within our earshot). The crowd came curious. Some wore football attire in preparation for the Super Bowl the following day. All wore smiles or inquisitive expressions.
New director of the Bohart Museum is professor and arachnologist Jason Bond, the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and associate dean, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
Bond succeeds UC Davis distinguished professor emerita Lynn Kimsey, who served as director from 1999 until Jan. 31, retiring on Feb. 1. Kimsey continues her research and as executive director of the Bohart Museum Society.
The Bohart Musuem participated in the Biodiversity Day with Anthropology Museum, Arboretum and Public Garden, Bohart Museum of Entomology, Botanical Conservatory, California Raptor Center, Center for Plant Diversity, Nematode Collection, Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology, Paleontology Collection, and Phaff Yeast Culture Collection. Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator of the Bohart Museum, chaired the Bioddiversity Museum Day Committee.
The next open house at the Bohart Museum will be from 1 to 4 p.m., Sunday, March 3. The theme: "Grasshoppers,Crickets and Katydids." A talk is planned from 1 to 2 p.m., with the museum open from 2 to 4 p.m.
The Bohart Museum also is planning its annual open house for the annual UC Davis Picnic Day on Saturday, April 20.
Founded in 1946 by UC Davis professor Richard Bohart, the insect museum is located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane. More information is on its website or by contacting bmuseum@ucdavis.edu.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
We have a winner in the annual Beer-for-a-Butterfly Contest, in which the first person to collect the first cabbage white butterfly of the year in the three-county area of Yolo, Sacramento and Solano, wins a beer.
The 2024 winner of the "Suds for a Bug" contest?
The repeat winner, UC Davis distinguished professor emeritus Art Shapiro. He has sponsored the annual contest since 1972 as part of his scientific research involving long-term studies of butterfly life cycles and climate change. He also participates in his own contest.
In its larval stage, the cabbage white butterfly, Pieris rapae, is a pest of cole crops, including cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli.
Shapiro did not actually collect the butterfly; he recorded it. But no person came forth with an eligible entry.
Shapiro spotted the cabbage white on Monday, Jan. 29 at 11:30 a.m. in West Sacramento, Yolo County, and saw the same one again at 11:40.
As he related in his posse email: “Went to West Sac bright and early, direct from breakfast and without a net. Light ground fog broke up by 9:30 a.m. and thereafter it was clear until around 2, when high, thin overcast moved in rapidly from the west. Before it clouded over, it hit 73F, with light and variable wind. Once the clouds moved in, although they were translucent, the temperature dropped quickly into the 60s. There are a few Brassica kaber (mustard) and a couple of dozen Raphanus (wild radish) in bloom, a tiny fraction of what was around last year at the end of January."
“Saw my first rapae of 2024, a male, at 11.20 a.m. and the same one again at 11.40. Then nothing until 12:20--another male, certainly a different one, 1.5 miles farther west. Nothing else seen, so 1(2) for the day.”
The emeritus professor said he learned that someone “may have gotten one yesterday (Jan. 28), location unknown, but no one came forth." He also received a report of one collected on Jan. 22 in Davis "which almost certainly hatched indoors so I'm not counting it. It was found in the person's apartment at 7 p.m., but never seen to come in from outdoors."
Shapiro, who has monitored butterfly populations in Central California since 1972, and maintains a research website at http://butterfly.ucdavis.edu/, says the point of the contest "is to get the earliest possible flight date for statistical purposes. The rules require that the animal be captured and brought in alive to be verified. That way no one can falsely claim to have seen one or misidentify something else as a cabbage white."
The contest rules include:
- It must be an adult (no caterpillars or pupae) and be captured outdoors.
- It must be brought in alive to the Bohart Museum of Entomology, located in Room 1124, Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus, during work hours, from 8 a.m. to noon, and from 1 to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. It must include full data (exact time, date and location of the capture) and the contact information of the collector (address, phone number and/or e-mail.) Brennen Dyer will certify that it is alive and refrigerate it. (If it's collected on a weekend or holiday, it can be kept in the refrigerator for a few days--do not freeze it, Shapiro says.)
- Shapiro is the sole judge.
Brennen related no one brought a white cabbage butterfly to the Bohart Museum to compete in the contest.
P. rapae is emerging earlier and earlier as the regional climate has warmed, Shapiro says. "Since 1972, the first flight of the cabbage white butterfly has varied from Jan. 1 to Feb. 22, averaging about Jan. 20."
Shapiro has been defeated only four times and those were by UC Davis graduate students. Adam Porter won in 1983; Sherri Graves and Rick VanBuskirk each won in the late 1990s; and Jacob Montgomery in 2016. The first three were his own graduate students.
Who won in 2023? Shapiro spotted the first butterfly of 2023 at 11:22 a.m., in West Sacramento. He did not collect the butterfly but recorded it as the first of the year. No one came forth with a competitor.
Matthew Forister, the Foundation Professor, Trevor J. McMinn Endowed Research Professor in Biology at the University of Nevada, Reno, collaborates with Shapiro and annually creates a graph, using statistics from 1972 to the current year. "The long-term linear pattern continues, although recent years have been less steep (the year slope was -0.45 six years ago; is -0.34 now)," he related. Forister received his PhD in ecology from UC Davis in 2004, studying with Shapiro.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
And who especially loves triceratops, the dinosaur with that three-horned face that lived 66 to 68 million years ago in North America? Measuring about 26 to 30 feet long, it weighed 5.5–9.9 short tons, according to Wikipedia. "It shared the landscape with and was most likely preyed upon by Tyrannosaurus, though it is less certain that two adults would battle in the fanciful manner often depicted in museum displays and popular media."
If you attend the 13th annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day, a free and family friendly "Super Science Day" on Saturday, Feb. 10, showcasing 10 museums and collections, keep your eyes open for crocheted triceratops. The treasures will be hidden around some of the buildings, including the Earth and Physical Sciences Building, home of the Paleontology Collection.
They're the work of Jakob Lopez, a third-year animal biology major at UC Davis and an intern at the Bohart Museum of Entomology. How his eyes lit up when he saw the triceratops riding the double-decker bus, a Biodiversity Museum Day graphic.
"I am going to make around 15-20, most likely," he said. An attached note will read: "CONGRATS, you found me. Now please take care of me.--Happy Biodiversity Day 2024."
The story behind the story?
Jakob has interned at the Bohart Museum since the beginning of the winter quarter. "I plan on using my time at the Bohart wisely and I eventually would like to spread awareness of using bugs as a food source/enhancer. I also would also like to be involved in using art to depict science. For example I would like to come out with my own book of scientific illustrations."
The 10 museums or collections participating on Feb. 10 and the hours open are:
- Anthropology Museum, 328 Young Hall and grounds, open from noon to 4 p.m.
- Arboretum and Public Garden, Habitat Gardens in the Environmental GATEway, adjacent to the Arboretum Teaching Nursery on Garrod Drive, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- Bohart Museum of Entomology, Room 1124 and main hall of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- Botanical Conservatory, the greenhouses along Kleiber Hall Drive, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- California Raptor Center, 1340 Equine Lane, off Old Davis Road, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
- Center for Plant Diversity, Katherine Esau Science Hall off Kleiber Hall Drive, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- Nematode Collection (part of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology), Katherine Esau Science Hall, off Kleiber Hall Drive, 10 am. to 2 p.m.
- Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology, Room 1394, Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- Paleontology Collection, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 1309 Earth and Physical Sciences Building, 434 LaRue Road, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- Phaff Yeast Culture Collection, Robert Mondavi Institute Brewery and Food Processing facility, Old Davis Road, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The double-decker bus is the 2020 work of Ivana Li, UC Davis biology laboratory manager. It was colorized and updated this year by Caitlen Comendant, an undergraduate design major at UC Davis, and a media intern for the Center for Plant Diversity and the Botanical Conservatory.
Sharing the bus on the upper level are (from left)
- California Raptor Center: Golden eagle
- UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden: Valley oak leaf
- Anthropology Museum: Projectile point
- Botanical Conservatory: Titan arum
- Phaff Yeast Collection: Budding yeast
- Paleontology Collection: Skull of Triceratops
Lower level (from left)
- Bohart Museum of Entomology: Chinese praying mantis, Tenodera sinensis
- UC Davis Bee Haven: honey bee
- Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology: Salt marsh harvest mouse
- Nematode Collection: Hookworm
- Center for Plant Diversity: Seed cone of a gray pine
- Marine Invertebrates Collection: California sea cucumber (included on bus but this collection will not be included at the Biodiversity Museum Day)
Last year some 4,000 visitors learned "about biodiversity through our amazing biological collections," said Yang, co-founder of the event. It's an opportunity to talk to the scientists and learn about the work they're doing.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
That would be UC Davis distinguished professor Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology from 1990 until yesterday, Jan. 31, 2024.
Today, Feb. 1, is her first full day of retirement after 34 years of service to UC Davis (teaching, research and public service), and it also happens to be her birthday anniversary.
The Bohart Museum staff celebrated her birthday today. "I'm 71," she said. (And yes, it's okay to print that.)
Why is she "The Girl in the Red Boots?" A photograph of her at age 5, sitting on a fence and holding an insect net, graces the entrance to the Bohart Museum. Her boots are colorized red in the black and white photo.
Lynn grew up in El Cerrito as Lynn Siri and went on to receive two degrees in entomology from UC Davis: a bachelor's degree (1976) and a doctorate (1979). She joined the UC Davis faculty in 1989 following an appointment at Harvard.
The Bohart Museum, founded by UC Davis entomologist Richard "Doc" Bohart in 1946, began with only 400 insect specimens at its Briggs Hall location. Under Kimsey's tenure, it has grown to a global collection of eight million insect specimens in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, and is the seventh largest insect collection in North America.
Kimsey, a recognized international authority on insect biodiversity, systematics and biogeography of parasitic wasps, urban entomology, civil forensic entomology, and arthropod-related industrial hygiene, is a past president of the International Society of Hymenopterists (2002-2004), and former member of the board of directors of the Natural Science Collections Alliance (2000 and 2001).
A popular administrator, Kimsey served as the vice chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology in 2005-2006 and again in 2009-2010. She headed the department as interim chair in 2008-2009.
We asked her today: "How is retirement?"
"Retirement is weird," Kimsey said. "Somehow nothing changes, but so many things change! I'm still going to work in the museum, sorting and identifying bugs, and answering questions, but I won't have to teach or do committee work."
Kimsey will continue to be the executive director of the Bohart Museum Society, and write and publish the newsletter. No, she's not going to Disneyland (as some retirees comment). "I'm going to try to make a publishable form of my keys to the insects of California. I will still be doing the newsletters and information pages."
"Jason is taking over (as museum director), and I know where he lives," she quipped.
That would be arachnologist Jason Bond, whose office and lab are just down the hallway. He joined the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology in 2018 as a professor and the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair. The UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences appointed him associate dean in 2021. He's also the president-elect of the American Arachnological Society.
A retirement party for Lynn Kimsey is planned April 6, information pending. Husband, Bob, a forensic entomologist with the Department of Entomology and Nematology, plans to retire in June.
Let's celebrate "The Girl in the Red Boots!"